Press Release

    The Budget: Green or Mean?

    23 March 2010

    As the country awaits news from Alistair Darling on where the government intends to cut and spend, Ben Stafford, head of campaigns at CPRE, outlines what a budget for the countryside must include:

    Overall government spending

    "This Budget may clarify where the Chancellor's axe will fall. All parties are talking about ring-fencing particular budgets, such as schools and hospitals, but this suggests cuts will be deeper elsewhere.

    "The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) currently accounts for less than 0.5% of total government spending, and the Department of Energy and Climate Change for about 0.3% - in the grand scheme of things, this is small change lost down the back of the Whitehall sofa.

    "At a time of growing threats to the environment and the countryside from development, climate change and simple neglect, it would be remarkably short-sighted for any political party to advocate trimming these budgets even further."

    Green Infrastructure Fund

    "A fund to kick-start investment in green transport and energy schemes is encouraging, although the £1 billion being mooted is pretty small beer.

    "It's important that this money is well spent. The government should use it to subsidise low carbon car clubs, making the latest technologies available to hard-pressed households that cannot afford to buy a new car, let alone a low carbon one."

    Fuel Duty

    "An imminent date with the electorate gives most politicians butterflies, but now is not the time for Ministers or Opposition parties to lose their nerve on fuel duty. The Chancellor should stick with the rise planned for April - failing to do so would drive a gas-guzzling Hummer through the government's ambitions to encourage drivers to switch to more efficient vehicles or other forms of transport."

    Broadband

    "The government's commitment to ensure that super-fast broadband is available in rural areas as well as towns and cities will certainly prevent further facebook pokes from countryside households caught in the slow lane. However, it’s essential that the infrastructure required to deliver this is planned sensitively, so as not to uglify the very areas it is designed to serve."